that left harry reid with just 59 of the 60 votes needed to move on to confirmation marking the first ever successful filibuster of a cabinet nominee. because of the coming senate recess, the next chance to confirm hagel will be the last week of february. in the meantime, republicans continued to find new reasons to justify they are obstruction. senator john mccain's latest gripe is personal. >> there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly. at one point said he was the worst president since herbert hoover, said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense. and was very amti his own party and his own people. people don't forget that. >> people also don't forget that years after hagel's republican herecy, john mccane said this of the man in 2006. i would be honored to have chuck with me in any capacity. he'd make a great secretary of state. people have also not forgotten that this filibuster has nothing to do with chuck hagel and everything to do with a republican vendetta against